Man Hospitalized in Southern Kazakhstan on Suspicion of Ebola

ALMATY (Sputnik) — A male commercial airline passenger has been hospitalized after landing in the southern Kazakhstan city of Almaty on suspicion of contracting the deadly Ebola virus, a source in the medical community told RIA Novosti on Sunday.

"All information is within the competence of the city health inspection services, which is working on confirming the diagnosis," the source was quoted as saying.

Local media report an unidentified man arrived in the Central Asian country from West Africa's Guinea via Istanbul, Turkey. Lab tests are currently being carried out to determine whether the patient is infected with the virus.

Ebola is a deadly disease that spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of infected persons, or upon contact with contaminated items. Symptoms include weakness, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and the sudden onset of fever followed by vomiting, diarrhea and in some cases, internal and external bleeding.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization estimated the total number of people killed by the virus exceeded 10,000 out of 24,350 infected since the outbreak had begun in southern Guinea, then spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal.

Specific treatment or a scientifically tested vaccine against Ebola currently does not exist. A number of countries, including Russia, the United States, Japan and China, are developing a vaccine for the deadly virus.